Commercial manufacturing of silicon-based solar cells involves several steps, including: (1) Cleaning of diced or melt grown Si wafers with a suitable etching solution. Wafers used are generally p-type with boron doping. (2) Phosphorus deposition and firing to form a layer with high phosphorus surface concentration (to a depth of about 0.3 to 0.5 microns. The firing is typically carried out at 800-950° C. for 10 to 120 minutes using a belt furnace. (3) Removal of phosphorous glass formed during firing. (4) Deposition of a thin anti-reflective/passivation coating, usually SiNX, having a typical thickness of about 50-70 nm. (5) Deposition of front contacts using screen-printing or extrusion process using a front-contact paste. Front-contact pastes typically include silver and glass powders dispersed in a suitable organic vehicle system. (6) Deposition of back-contact silver and aluminum pastes using either screen-printing or pad-printing, and (7) Belt furnace firing of the front and back contact pastes at 600 to 1000° C. for a few seconds to few minutes.